Welcome to the 48th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th-19th January), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.
Here are the best-read posts this last week, in descending order:
1. Final update: Blog reaction to Nick Clegg’s speech on public services on Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings blog.
This is what I call comprehensive: 14 media stories and 59 blog posts.
2. How the Lib Dem leadership contest almost turned into a bloodbath on Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England blog.
Did Ming back Nick and Charles back Chris? Behind-the-scenes in the leadership contest, according to Greg Hurst.
3. Nick Clegg: an apology on Anders Hanson’s blog.
Anders promises to keep the liberal dissenting tradition alive ‘n’ kicking.
4. The Orange Book Delusion on James Graham’s Quaequam Blog! blog.
“I do wish people would stop waving it in my face and actually read it.” And you can buy it here.
5. Stop being ‘deliberately contentious’…we’re not the Liberal Party! On Jo Anglezarke’s Jo’s Jottings blog.
Is it time for a name change? (Please, God, let’s not have that debate again!)
6. Prime Minister’s Questions – Live (almost!) on Steve Webb’s The Webb Log blog.
Steve recounts this week’s Parliamentary half-hour in which MPs ask questions without expecting or wanting to hear the answers.
7. ePolitix verdict: Clegg beating Cameron at PMQs on Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings blog.
It’s true! Nick’s averaging 7.5/10 to Dave’s 6/10.
And here’s another five postings well worth sinking your teeth into on a wet January night:
8. If it’s Thursday it must be Pendle and Teheran on Baroness Ros Scott’s Because Baronesses are people too blog.
A warm LDV welcome to blogging for the noble lady, here grappling with housing in Pendle and legally ‘perverse’ decisions by Jack Straw.
9. Nick Clegg – the other story on Neil Stockley’s blog.
On the importance of Nick stopping the media’s negative narrative – that he’s a waffler – from sticking.
10. London Development Agency: trying to spin its way out of trouble on Lynne Featherstone’s Parliament and Haringey diary.
The misappropriation and corruption may still be case unproven, but Lynne has the LDA bang to rights over its spin tactics.
11. How we can get that “Good local school” everybody wants on Tom Papworth’s Liberal Polemic blog.
Tom’s pro-choice: “The point of choice (and competition, and markets, and all those other scary things that cause Social Democratic stomachs to knot in fear) is that it is the most effective driver in improving standards.”
12. Write a WordPress plugin and win £200 on Lib Dem Voice.
Bustin’ to write a plugin for the party? Find out how.
And that’s it for another week… Happy blogging.
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PM
22 Comments
So, Stephen, what do you think we should be called?
;@))
Bob. The “other one” in any list of three names is always Bob. So it would be Labour, the Tories, and Bob.
I mean, we have a TV channel called Dave, why not a political party called Bob?
As in ‘Rita, Sue and Bob too’?
;@)
And, of course, Weebl and Bob
(thanks, though. I had Islands In The Stream in my head after reading Something for the Weekend and now it’s the much more acceptable We’re ‘Avin’ a Gang Bang ;))
Gosh, oh er…crikey…
*shuffles feet, blushes, leaves room*
LMAO sorry. That’s what always pops into my head when someone mentions R,S&BT. Well, that and Kulvinder Ghir’s lovely curls…
@ Jo, you’ll have to excuse Jennie; while most of us are in the gutter looking at the stars, she’s perpetually looking at what everyone else is doing…
I think we should be called the Liberal Democrats, that’s the political party I joined. The old Liberal party was a parliamentary party made up of a broad church coalition including Whigs, Liberals and Radicals, get them back and we can have the parliamentary Liberal party without having to fuss around with silly name changes or new mergers. Would require STV to work naturally…
“I think we should be called the Liberal Democrats, that’s the political party I joined.”
So those, who once joined the Liberal Party, are at least entitled to argue that the party should be called the Liberal Party, because that’s the political party they joined?
How is it in general possible that a party called the “Liberal Democrats” can exist, if any proporal for a change can be shot down with such a conservative argument?
If you want to join the Liberal Party, I’m sure they’d welcome you:
http://www.liberal.org.uk/
Yes, but Mat, just like an organisation or company, the name can and may change depending on a huge amount of factors – such as different political climate?
For example, if you go and work for orange or support Bristol Rovers, would you resign if they called themselves ‘yellow’ or stop supporting the rovers if they called themselves just Bristol?
It would always depend on the circumstances or reason. Amongst other things, we legally can’t be the Liberal PArty, such an organisation exists and has the name legally registered.
If the remaining members voted to merge with us, then it would be more politically expedient, but unless they do or wrap up the organisation it’s actually not possible regardless.
If the political climate were different, then yes, but it currently isn’t. The Liberal Party of old lost the bulk of it’s support in the early 20th Century, we’re a different party, with different traditions, that the majority of both the ancestor parties voted to form.
Anon @ 8, it’s not a conservative argument to look to the future of this party rather than look to the past. I’d love to feel we could legitimately claim the mantle of the party of Gladstone and Campbell Bannerman. But until that’s a legitimate claim (ie we’ve got back the Whigs currently in the Conservative and Unionist party and persuaded the Radicals to dump the Labour and Co-operative Party) it’s something I don’t think makes sense.
But we lobbied for the law change, we’ve worked hard to get the Lib Dem brand accepted, and we’re campaigning for a renewal of British democracy. Until we’ve got STV, the Democrats part of the title is essential. In my opinion.
* thinks hard even though tired and wants badly to go to bed *
Yes but we could call ourselves ‘The Liberals’ or ‘The Radicals’. I think that would get us an enormous amount of attention – should we take this to the members forum Mat? If so I will post tomorrow afternoon…:@)
“should we take this to the members forum Mat?”
Awwwww, that means I’ll have to look over his shoulder to read it!
Jennie – Oh christ – had this awful thought that perhaps you were someone I know from a couple of years ago…have realised now with a huge sigh of relief that you are not!
Must go to bed!!
:@)))
If you want. I suggest the existing rename thread where I’ve already said most of this though 😉
I is cunning like that y’see…
@ Jennie: You could always sign up for the forum y’know, it only costs £10 to join, would’ve been £6 a few weeks back 😉
“had this awful thought that perhaps you were someone I know from a couple of years ago…have realised now with a huge sigh of relief that you are not!”
LOL we’ve never met, love, I’m just Mat’s annoying fiancée. Trolling LDV is something of a hobby at the moment; he spends so much time here I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about.
Sleep tight :X
Ohhh! Get you! Asking Jennie to join The Radicals!
Oh…in my world it’s always polite to let someone know if you’re friends with someone…or about to get married to them – otherwise it can leave the other person with a huge amount of egg on their face…see my current post…:@(
@Mat: see, this is where it all falls down, asking a Yorksherwoman to part with her money…
Srsly, I’m not joining, I’ve said this lots, I just think it’s important to show interest in one’s fiancé’s hobbies 😛
Jo, my bad, if I run into someone on here I want to know more about I always click on their name and see if they have a linked blog and have a good nosey around it to find out more about them (or if they don’t have a linked blog I ask Mat), so I tend to assume that everyone else does that too.
I dunno what’s good for getting egg off, either…
Whatever